Also

* Power company Allegheny Energy Inc. said it was suing investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. for a breach of confidence and fraud related to a transaction between the two groups last year. Allegheny, in a suit filed in the Supreme Court of New York, charged Merrill with inflating revenue at its energy-trading business, which Allegheny bought from the investment bank. The suit comes a day after Merrill said it was suing Allegheny for not paying $115 million as part of an agreement to buy the business.

* James Copeland, a vociferous opponent of accounting industry reform, will step down in May as head of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the world’s No. 2 accounting firm, and its U.S. partnership. A replacement was not immediately named.

* Vanguard Airlines Inc. rejected a buyout offer from a group of investors headed by the owner of restaurant chain Hooters.

* Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., the largest U.S. household-goods retailer, said second- quarter profit rose 40% to $75.5 million, or 25 cents a share, from $54 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 27% to $903 million.

* Handspring Inc., a Mountain View, Calif., maker of hand-held computers, fired about 80 workers, or 20% of its worldwide work force, as part of an effort to reduce costs and become profitable as sales decline.

* Resources Connection Inc. reported net income of $2.5 million, or 11 cents a share, for its fiscal first quarter, a 42% drop from $4.3 million, or 19 cents, for last year’s first quarter. The Costa Mesa professional services firm posted revenue of $43.5 million for the quarter ended Aug. 31, down 12% from last year.